


How to Behave

by ladyhoneydarlinglove



Category: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Gen, M/M, Modern AU, temeraire and iskierka are kids, the others are long suffering parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:56:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyhoneydarlinglove/pseuds/ladyhoneydarlinglove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grocery shopping with his family is a more stressful experience than Laurence had anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Behave

It wasn’t that Laurence _didn’t_ like shopping with his family; it was only that their presence made things a touch more stressful than when Laurence went by himself. Laurence had been doing the grocery shopping for years and never heard any complaints, and yet as he walked down the aisles with Tharkay silent at his side, Laurence got the distinct impression his husband was judging him. That, coupled with an overexcited Temeraire bounding about the store as though it were his personal playground, did not make for the most peaceful shopping trip.

“Dad!” Temeraire exclaimed, running up to Laurence as he debated which salad dressing to get, despite the fact that they had been buying the same kind for over four years. “Dad, can I get these?”

He held out a package of Fox’s Chocolaty Shortcake Rounds. “No, Temeraire, we already have biscuits at home,” Laurence said.

“I know, but we don’t have this kind,” Temeraire argued. “And I really want to try them, please, dad?”

“I said no, Temeraire. Put them back.”

“But—” Temeraire paused, before drawing himself up straight, chin held high as he said, in an unnecessarily loud voice, “Alright, dad. I’ll put them back, because unlike _some_ people I know to listen and follow directions.”

“I know how to follow directions!” shrieked someone from the other end of the aisle, and Laurence looked up to see Iskierka and her fathers coming towards them. “Dad, tell Temeraire I know how to follow directions!”

“Hullo, Will, Tenzing,” Granby said, ignoring his daughter. “I hope you’re having more luck with your shopping than we are.”

Granby’s cart was filled to the brim, and Laurence could see several different kinds of biscuits, candies, and ice creams that he was quite certain should not be fed to the already energetic Iskierka. “It’s easier to let her put them in the cart and then remove them all at the end,” Little said upon catching his stare.

“Ah.” Laurence shot him a sympathetic smile. “I suppose she doesn’t notice until you’re already out of the store, then?”

“Oh, if only we were so lucky,” Granby grumbled, lifting his arm away from where Iskierka was tugging on it, still demanding that Granby tell Temeraire she could follow directions. “No, likely she’ll throw a tantrum in the middle of the check-out and we’ll have to buy her a Mars bar to keep her quiet. Iskierka, no, I will not tell Temeraire you know how to follow directions, because I would be _lying_.”

“See?” Temeraire said, crossing his arms in triumph. “Even your dad knows you can’t behave.”

“Ooh!” Iskierka’s face went red. “I can too behave! Watch, I’m behaving right now.”

“That’s not behaving, that’s just standing still,” Temeraire said. “If you want to behave, you have to be good and listen to your dads when they tell you to do something.”

“I can do that! Dad, tell me to do something so I can listen!”

“You can’t tell your dad to tell you to do something! That’s ordering him around and that isn’t behaving at all,” Temeraire said.

“Oh, do be quiet!” Iskierka snapped. “If I wasn’t behaving right now I’d knock your block off!”

“Iskierka,” Granby said, laying his hand on her shoulder in warning. She pouted, but remained silent, and Granby sighed. “Anyway, fancy coming over for supper tonight?” he asked Laurence and Tharkay. “Little’s making roast chicken and jacket potatoes.”

“Oh! Is it proper roast chicken?” Temeraire asked. “Because whenever Baba makes it he always adds these weird spices like turmeric and star anise and not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s quite lovely!” His face flushed under Tharkay’s raised eyebrow. “Only sometimes it _is_ nice to have normal chicken.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Tharkay said with a small, amused smile, which only served in making Temeraire flush deepen, and he hide behind Laurence to avoid Tharkay’s gaze.

“We’d love to,” Laurence answered.

“Great! Six at ours, then?”

“Sounds perfect,” Laurence said. “Temeraire, stop making faces at Iskierka, it’s not very becoming.”

Temeraire’s stuck out tongue snapped back into his mouth and he buried his face in his father’s jacket. “Sorry, Dad,” he mumbled.

“Iskierka, you too,” Little chided. “If you really want to show you know how to behave, why don’t you start by putting some of these biscuits back?”

“But Papa, I want the biscuits!” Iskierka protested as their family passed by. Laurence could hear them arguing even after they’d turned the corner.

“We should bring something along,” he said to Tharkay.

“Yes. Temeraire, why don’t you help me pick out a vegetable to bring?” Temeraire’s face lit up and he rushed over to Tharkay’s side, tugging on his hand as he began babbling on about how he’d seen Jamie Oliver do this neat thing with a vegetable that looked like broccoli only it was shaped like a cone, and this other thing with the purple greens that weren’t cabbage, and did Baba know—

“I’ll distract him,” Tharkay muttered to Laurence as they reached the end of the aisle. “You finish up or we’ll be stuck here until they close.”

Laurence smiled, and pushed the cart towards the cereal aisle as Temeraire dragged Tharkay off to look at the vegetables.


End file.
